Telford’s Eddie Bamberger is a full-time corrections officer at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility and a full-time student at Kutztown University.

He’s also stronger than you are.

The 26-year-old just won the title of Pennsylvania’s Strongest Man at the Team Ironmill competition in York on Sept. 15.

This was his fifth strong man competition, and his first time winning first place. Not only did Bamberger win in the heavyweight category — for those 300-plus pounds — he also won the overall title, earning the title of the strongest man in Pennsylvania.

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The strongman, called “Bam Bam,” completed five events to win the title. He took first in the Keg Clean and Press event, lifting a 240-pound keg over his head seven times in 60 seconds (which explains why he could lift a local journalist over his head without any trouble).

Pennsylvania’s strongest man also lifted a 330-pound Atlas Stone over a 52-inch bar five times in 75 seconds, maintained a “Hercules Hold” with two 160-pound weights for 37 seconds, pulled a 15,000-pound firetruck 75 feet and dead-lifted a car 10 times.

“I knew going into the dead-lift that I only had to do six reps to win it,” Bamberger said. “So I did 10.”

That’s the kind of attitude Bamberger applies to everything: just enough is never enough.

On top of working full-time as a corrections officer, Bamberger chose to return to Kutztown, where he had already accumulated 80 credits toward a psychology degree.

“Working the prison is stressful,” he said. “I wanted to go back to school and get my degree.”

He said he hopes to graduate by December 2014, and then start pursuing his master’s degree in exercise science with a specialization in sports psychology.

To juggle two full-time commitments, Bamberger stays awake for 24 hours three times every week.

“I work the night shift at the prison, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. And then I have my classes from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. I’m busy,” he said.

Of course, he also finds time to lift and train for strong man competitions.

“I do a powerlifting routine three times every week and train at a strong man gym once every month,” he said.

Leading up to this competition, Bamberger said he trained more than he ever had. A lot of his training involves mastering technique for events.

“It’s about strength, but it’s also about form,” he said. “Some guys just try to lift things the wrong way or don’t know what they’re doing — that’s how you injure yourself.”

Bamberger, currently an amateur, hopes to get his pro card next year to compete professionally.

He has been competing as an amateur since his first competition when he was 20 and has been interested in the strong man competitions since.

“I was a personal trainer at the Boyertown YMCA when I was 19, and I worked with a lot of guys who did powerlifting. I learned about it from them and got more into it,” he said.

Although he still currently has his personal training certification, Bamberger said he is so busy he doesn’t do any personal training. However, after he gets his master’s degree and becomes a certified strength and conditioning specialist, Bamberger said he wants to work as a strength and conditioning coach for high school or college athletes.

“That’s something I wish I had when I was younger,” he said. “Everything I know now, I didn’t know when I was younger. I wish I had; it really would have helped me.”